USGA Northeast Regional Update

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/regional-updates/northeast-region/every-cloud-has-an-unseen-benefit.html

Course Update 8/18/2015

 

 

Trying to make time for all of the little details on the course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new netting is finally up and looking good.  Believe it or not but there are only 3 nets that were installed along with all new wire and hardware.  The netting used is the same type of netting fishermans use so you know it is strong and will last if it can hold up those those conditions.

 

 

 

 

 



Course Update and a Great Article

 

Golf Course Update

 

     It is hard to believe that August is here and that's when we start to think about recovery from a stressful summer.  We will be aerifying greens August 11th and 12th if the weather holds up.  As I am writing this the forecast does not look good for Tuesday the 11th.  If we need to push back aerification we will until Wednesday and Thursday but lets cross our fingers and hope that we can stay on schedule.  We need to be a little careful with this aerification due to the weather patterns that we have had over the past several months.  Even though things may look good on top down below is what I concern myself with during an aerification in August.  What I mean is that we have had several different swings in weather patterns during May, June and July.  May was dry and that is good for growing the roots down below.  June we received over 3 times the amount of rain we typically get and combined with high humidity it can do a number on the root system and the grass plant.  When we have conditions like this in June the grass becomes lazy, excess nitrogen is released from the soil causing puffy turf conditions, the grass is extremely hydrated, and oxygen in the root zone is minimal because of the saturated soils.  When conditions like this persist there is always things that we will battle for the rest of the summer.  Even though we can aerate with small solid tines to help with oxygen exchange in the soil, trying to dry something out is tough when we cannot manage the rainfall.  This is why we have sand greens.  As long as we can manage the top couple of inches and keep the organic matter and thatch under control we can continue to have greens that will have good infiltration rates during these times.  I have attached a very good article that everyone should read from the USGA about our area this year. 

 

http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/regional-updates/northeast-region/climate-is-what-we-expect--weather-is-what-we-get.html

 

 

    Also this week the new driving range netting will be installed starting Wednesday the 12th.  Why are we doing this you ask?  There are several reasons -  first is safety.  We continually have nets that rip and fall down during high winds because of the netting was never installed correctly to begin with over 11 years ago.  Second the life of the netting has failed because it was never installed correctly. Each pole should have wire at the top and bottom and then going down each pole to attach each section of netting keeping it tight.  That is where they failed.  Instead of running a wire down each pole whoever installed the netting actually just used rope down the poles in several areas.  There are also sections of netting that are one net but actually cover two sections and the rope was just over top the net going down the pole.  The installers will work continuously once they start to finish the job.  I appreciate your patience during this improvement. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Course Update 5/24/2015

 

 

What a busy week and it started off hot!  It felt like July on Monday and Tuesday but things cooled down before the weekend!  On Monday 5/18 we were able to get the greens double verti-cut, blown off, mowed and applied a light topdressing before our 1:00 pm shotgun went off.  We verti-cutt when the bentgrass gets what we call "leggy."  The light topdressing is more of a consistent thing we do but when we can get it into the grooves from the verti-cutter, that's a good thing!  We also received 1.75" of rain Monday night that helped wash in the topdressing which was right on time with how dry things were the previous week.

I know a big discussion around the club is why did we remove the broken tee boxes at the tee markers.  First the teeing area looks more inviting and open.  Secondly it is one more thing that the setup guy in the morning has to move.  The above picture is not what we want to see.  If you are willing to pickup your tee and throw it to the side, just take it back to your cart and leave it in there or put it into the trash can.  We still have to pickup the tees that you are leaving and it is basically littering.  Please help us keep our course clean!

 

 

Here is another example of where people are throwing there tees.  Next to the tee on #8 is a tree with mulch around it and about 20 broken tees laying in the mulch.  Another few steps and the tees could have ended up in the trash can or your cart.

 

 

With the pool opening a week earlier this year we got busy getting tables painted, setup, cleaned and pressure washed.  After getting the pool deck and strap furniture pressure washed we turned our attention to other areas that needed it.  Here you can see how dirty the concrete pad is under the covered pavilion by the pool, but not anymore!

 

 

Making the deck next to the snack shed look brand new!

 

 

Another concern we addressed this year was adding mats to the pool house in the ladies and men's bathroom to prevent any slip and fall accidents.  When we put the tile down last year it was becoming very slippery when the floor was wet.  We put 20 mats down to prevent any accidents this year but please remember to walk and not run while in the pool house!

 

 

Wow is that our snack shed?  Yes it is and it looks great!  Finally all of our buildings have the old T-111 wood siding covered with vinyl siding.  The snack shed also got new granite counter tops outside, stairs, door and screen doors well.  All of the exterior work to the pool house buildings are complete. 

 

 

Here is the before picture as they started removing the old windows.

 

 

Here is the finished product.  The pool house received a new roof, siding, windows, paint and all of the wood trim was wrapped in metal.  The pump house to the left got the same treatment and a real door was added.  You can see the swim team record board hanging in a nice PVC frame in the center of the pool house. 
I would like to say Thank You Shannon Allcock with Shanco Companies for doing such a great job!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 







Golf Course Update

 

This signs of a new year are upon us.  It has been awhile since my last post and I apologize but better late than never.   

 

The first cuts of the year happened last week.  Now with the days getting longer and temperatures rising the grass is about to explode.

 

 

We completed our green aerification last week.  This Spring we decided to use a 1/2" solid tine instead of pulling a core.  Even with the inclement weather we had on Tuesday we still aerified.  If we were pulling a core this would not have happened due to the rain and wet conditions.  With the rain keeping the golfers away we were able to aerify the entire back 9 and half the front on Tuesday and we finished up early Wednesday morning to stay on schedule.  On Wednesday we kept the back 9 closed until we finished up verti-cutting the greens in two directions and topdressed.  Once we finished the back we closed the front and got the entire process complete on schedule. 

 





We finally got our roller back up and going in time for aerification.  Here you can see the roller smoothing out the green after we aerified it.  Sorry for the blurry picture but the roller was moving fast!

 

Here is #9 green on Friday after dry mowing the greens before the weekend.  Even though there was still some sand evident after a .25" of rainfall Thursday night we were able to get through this.  Typically I like to wait a few days and roll first then mow so we don't bruise up the greens with the abrasiveness of the sand.  All that is left is a good shot of liquid nutrients to get the color back and get some new shoot growth happening. 

Course Update

 

Over the past few weeks during times of heavy frost or really cold days we needed to change direction since the weather would not allow us to continue to keep working on the filling the holes where the trees were removed.   A project that needed some much attention was the pond banks.  We started to clean up all the tangled blackberry that surrounds the small pond on hole 10 and to the left of the 18th tee.

 

 

 

We were able to pick back up this past week once the snow melted that hung around for about two weeks and get back to clearing.  We have made a lot of headway and pretty much have everything knocked back and ready to be chipped up.  After chipping everything we will rake up the leaves and prep the slopes to prepare for seed.  Once we get into spring the plan will be to apply some post emergent herbicides and keep the blackberry from coming back giving us a pleasant sight line around the ponds.

 

 

Here is a picture from yesterday when the snow started to fall.  We measured about 3 inches of snow and by the looks of the forecast maybe more will be coming next week.